[MARGARET PASTON] TO HER SON [SIR JOHN PASTON]
[Sidenote: 1471(?) / NOV. 20]
Wonders she has no answer to her letter by Ric. Raddeley. Wants him and
his brother to get a discharge from my Lord of Canterbury, ‘for
occupying of your father’s goods.’ If my Lord died before we got it, his
successor might be ‘more hasty upon us than he hath been.’ My Lord knows
the great charges we have had since he deceased, which have caused the
goods to be spent. If any of us were to die, no one would take charge
for us unless we have a discharge. Remember the spices and malmsey I
have sent to you for.
St. Edmund’s Day the King.
_Sealed._
[At the date of this letter, Sir John Paston and his brother John
were together in London, and apparently the Archbishop of Canterbury
was seriously ill. Of the latter fact we have no certain knowledge,
but it appears by a subsequent letter that there was a report of his
death in June 1472, and the two brothers were certainly in London
together in November of the year preceding. It is probable therefore
that the Archbishop was ill of the epidemic which prevailed in the
latter part of 1471 and the spring of 1472. The two brothers were
not together in November 1472.]
[Footnote 123-1: [From Paston MSS., B.M.]]
791